Great Western Coffee Shop

The Fort William to Mallaig line was one of the final lines built at the end of the railway building era and used many techniques / materials such as concrete which were innovative at the time.  It runs through spectacular scenery with regular Scotrail trains and also - seasonally - the Hogwarts Express.

From the National (https://www.thenational.scot/news/18975540.bbc-alba-documentary-shines-new-light-west-highland-railway/)


That's 21:00 on 31st December - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qrjs

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/buildmallaig.jpg)

Members proposing to watch this should bear in mind that Alba is a Scottish Gaelic channel, although the pictures probably speak for themselves

May be subtitled, bearing in mind the title is - "Ceol na Loidhne/Song of the Track" and so is the previous program. I am spending Hogmany drinking a dark black brew from Ireland, and watching men in plaid skirts playing music through a sheepskin bag somewhere is Scotland. I have just backed up a major website from Wales. I look forward to visiting the places these thing come from in 2021.

The preview clips were subtitled.

Bagpipes. Urgghhh. Can't stand the sound of them. And I'm half Scot. Inherited English hearing obviously!

"I understand that the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, astatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equaled the purity of sound achieved by the pig." - Alfred Hitchcock

I could happily listen to the harp being played over and over again, but bagpipes, nay!

Then you missed at treat - an hour's mixture of pictures old and new, interviews in English and Gaelic, and the harp being played by the presenter.  Not a bagpipe insight.   The Gaelic interviews and general commentary were easy enough to follow through subtitles, the English ones far less so because Lisa was watching "The Last Leg" on the main TV and we were both enjoying that too.   

It's available on replay, and I will be watching again.  Partly because it's a good program.  And also because of a love I have for places shown, and a fondness for the people I was teaching PHP to just across on the Isle of Skye, who took me to a harp recital raising money for the cat's protection league one lunchtime.

I did actually watch it - and as you say, an absolute treat.

Look up the harp twins on You Tube....

There are English subtitles if you want them.

Recorded so I will probably watch it today

What a pleasant way to start my New Year - an hour well spent. Wonderful pictures and music: I enjoyed her interpretation, and the cadence was spot - a couple of short rails and a soupcon of point work. I loved the Gaelic too; upfront it is a bit harsh but there is a lilting softness in the background.

For those that enjoy music inspired by trains, I grew up with this one, here performed by the NCO (https://youtu.be/Z6R593Ekw04). A very nice and measured performance of Villa-Loboz's 'Little Train on the Caipira' from his Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2. I recommend it to you if you have five minutes to spare.

Dvorak was a railway enthusiast as well, but I don't know of any train inspired piece from his oeuvre, unless there are others on the forum that can advise otherwise. Happy New Year all.

Agreed Oxonhutch - just finished watching it this morning, as the snow falls outside.

Also gives me an excuse to post one of my favourite photos in my collection!

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/glen0101.jpg)

Ahh Dvorak. A Czech who wrote his New World Symphony after going to America, a piece of music that in the UK will forever conjure up images of Yorkshire accents, brown bread and Gold Hill in Shaftesbury...

Can't help but think of the late Tony Capstick.

For anyone who doesnt know what we are thinking of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2AcJSkUw6M

Bagpipes,  I hate Bagpipes, 8)
                I love Bagpipes  :D

Let me explain. when reproduced on TV, Record player, CD or any electrical appliance Bagpipes sound bad.

But when listened to directly IE as they are being played live, it's a sound that is wonderful. :)

Bagpipes just DON'T reproduce well. >:(

Sounds like another Marmite subject.

Perhaps it is, but why that should be the case has intrigued me for years because it is almost uniquely confined to England. I know, so is Marmite, but I am talking about bagpipes.  ;)

There are plenty of instruments the world over that rely on a reservoir of air to operate. There are such beasts as Northumbrian pipes and accordions to mention just a few. There are also other instruments that make a sound through vibrating reeds.

My adoptive mother would tell anyone who hung around long enough that she hated bagpipes; ?just like wailing cats? she would say. It struck me at a very young age that a badly played violin sounds a lot more like wailing cats than bagpipes as does, to my ears at least, most of the output from Bela Bartok. Symphony for three Belfast sinks and a tin can often springs to mind but perhaps I am just a Philistine...

Anyway, I digress. There is a popular myth that bagpipes were banned after the Battle of Culloden in 1745 under the Dress Act of 1747.  Some limited research before I posted this suggested that that is probably not the case, but there was certainly much anti-Scottish feeling around in England at the time. I wonder whether one of that feeling?s consequences was the English learning to dislike bagpipes, and that learned, possibly Pavlovian behaviour, has been passed down the generations to this day.

 I accept his has got very little to do with a documentary on the Fort William to Mallaig line in Gaelic, but this just seemed an interesting digression!  ;D

Bit like pandas, then?

This thread has gone way off.    Lovely pictures and during the show I did some screen grabs.  As the pictures are some 120 years old, I wonder if they are out of copyright such that I can include them here?

I am very tempted this summer to visit the line again ... plans for 2020, retired, were for me to take a series of outings - some alone and some with Lisa and that plan was discussed and renewed but a year later, yesterday. Lisa like the occasional week of peace and quiet.   Tempted by easement 700784

Buy yoursel(f/ves) a Freedom of Scotland (or Highland) Railrover. Buses on Skye are included, as are the Calmac ferries.

Unless it has changed recently, Highland rover tickets are not valid on the buses on Skye but do cover the

Something awful happen to Bagpipes in 1996.

They were up to 1996, classified as a

Weapon of War ;D ;D ;D

2 sets of bagpipes and not a harp in sight ... "World's most scenic railway journeys" on Channel 5 from 9 this evening, narrated by Bill Nighy. 

Lovely to see samples of places on the line itself, and the scenery and people around, somewhat disjoint continuity and issues.  Putting that aside, one of those people we met was John Yellowlees, who I met on the platform at Cambridge North soon after it opened and travelled with down to London (Hi, John - if you ever happen to read this - hi from the forum and from Melksham!). A lovely line and great pictures and an ambassador and enthusiast for rail in Scotland - retired now but not really retired. 

I look forward to the opportunity to travelling the West Highland line again - summer next year if not summer this, and perhaps catching up with friends in Scotland

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/whl_20210108_00.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/whl_20210108_01.jpg)